Refrigerator car



K. F. NYSTROM REFRIGERATOR GAR Filed June 11. 1921 2 Sheds-Shut 1 I War/F/Vzs/rokr Jan. 26 1926.

K. F. NYSTROM REFRIGERATOR CAR 2 Shasta-Sheet 2 Filed June 11. 1921 FIG. 5

Patented Jan. 26, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

REFRIGERATOR CAB.

Application filed June 11, 1921. Serial No. 476,778.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, KARL F. NYSTROM, a subject of. the King of Great Britain, and

' resident of the city of Montreal, in .the

. act description.

' ator car.

This invention relates to improvements in freight cars equipped with means for controlling the temperature therein and commonly called refrigerator cars in which the desired result is obtained by circulating air through the body of the car and through a temperature changing device, and the object of the invention is to provide a car of inexpensive and durable construction in which the circulation of air will be positive.

A further object is to provide a construction in which the air from each temperature changer circulates the full length of the car and short circuiting is entirely prevented.

A still further object is to provide a car in which the circulating air is kept out of contact with the contents of the car and is therefo e kept dry.

Another object is to provide a car so constructed that the roof at each end is un olsructed adjacent the hand brake.

Various subsidiary objects will be ascertained from the following description.

Refrigerator cars as at present constructed are usually provided at each end with a cooler in the form of a space partitioned ofi containing an ice bunker or one or more brine tanks. The lading of the car is supported on racks spaced a short distance above the floor, so as to provide a channel through.

which cold air may fiowfrom the coolers at both ends of the car toward the centre. This air becomes heated by radiation from the lading of the car and by radiation from the car itself and rises through the racks and through the lading of the 'car to the ceiling, along which it returns. to the coolerfrom which it started The foregoing is the theory of operation of the ordinary refriger- It will be seen that the cooling air is in direct contact with the lading of the car and therefore is in a constantly moist condition, so that in the, case of a mixed lading the one sort of goods toanother. Furthermore,

. circulate .falseceiling air serves to carry odors from culation of temperature regulating airfrom .on account of the moist air in circulation,

the ice bunkers .or brine tanks are constantly sweating. Owing to the fact that the two opposing currents of air meet at approximately the centre of the car, that considerable velocity is lost, so that the circulation is slow. A certain roportion of the air rises at points interme late to the coolers and the centre of the car and re.- turns to the coolers, thus further impairing the circulation of air as a whole. In addition, the cooling effect is not uniform throughout the car. The movement of the car in travelling also interferes considerably with proper circulation of air, so that the cooler at one end is overloaded and serving more than half the car. It has also been considered necessary to provide iceing hatches on each side of the car at each end, with the result that the roof of the .car is seriously obstructed in the vicinity of the hand brake and-ladders, thus making the operation 'of brakes on refrigerator cars more dangerous than on other cars.

it is evident According to the present invention, a car at the other end. The spaces thus left at; the sides of the car are partitioned oil from the compartments and from the interior of the car and form flues for air circulation. A longitudinal dividing wall is provided at the centre of the car under the floor racks,

.thus' forming two distinct air channels under the floor racks each of which communicates with a com artment at one end of the car and with a' ue at the opposite end of the car, and is entirely isolated from the -other compartment and flue. A false ceiling is providedwithin the car and is longitudinally divided into two channels connected. as regards the compartments and flues in the same manner as the floor channels. This false ceiling provides a definite passage or channel for warm air entirely separate from the'body compel the air from. each compartment to the-whole length of the car. The serves also to isolate the 'cir of the car and which operates to located toward one side of the the lading of the car, for the reason that any air which rises through the floor racks cannot get into the ceiling channels but escapes through suitable ventilators. The provision -of distinct air channels in the ceiling also concentrates the current of air and greatly improves the circulation, so that very little, if any,'air will escape from the temperature regulating system into the car. The

bunker or tank at each end of the car is set toward that side of the car remote from the hand brake and ladders and a single hatch is provided for each tank on the opposite side of the car from the hand brake.

In the drawings which illustrate the invention;

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a car according to this invention, a part of the roof being cut away to show the interior arrangement.

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line 2-2, Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section at the centre of the car.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view illustrating the construction of the ventiIator.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section on the line 5-5, Figure 1.

Referrmg more particularly to the drawings, 11 designates the fioor,i12 the walls and 13 the roof of a refrigerator car, which are all of any suitable or usual construction. Near each end of the car, a transverse partit1on or bulkhead 14 is provided extending from side to side of the car and from a short distance above the floor to a short distance below the roof, and serves. to separate a compartment 15 from the body of the car. The usual floor racks are designated 16 and, according to this invention, the stringers 17 supporting the racks/ at the longitudinal centre of the car form a division separating the space under the racks into two parallel channels 18 extending between the partitions 14. An insulated partition 19 extends from each bulkhead 14 to the adjacent end of the car close to one side thereof. These partitions 19 are disposed at opposite ends of the car .on opposite sides thereof and provide flues 20 isolated from the adjacent compartments "by means of the walls 19 and the low walls 21 extending from the ends of the central division 17 to the outer ends of the walls 19. At each end of the car a false floor 22 is provided in the triangular space between the walls 14, 19 and 21, so as to complete the isolation of one of the floor channels 18 from the compartment and to effectually connect this channel with the flue 20. This false floor 22 is preferably highest at the junction of the walls 14 and 19 and slopes downwardly to the inclined wall 21, so that air in the cooler fiowin down on the floor will naturally flow off t e same to the bottom of the compartment and will not lodge on the false floor. A false ceiling 23 is provided extending from side to side of the car and between the bulkheads 14. This false ceiling provides a space which is divided at the longitudinal centre of the car by a member 24 into two channels 25, each of which connects at one end of the car with a compartment 15 and at the opposite end with a flue'20. In order to isolate each flue 20 from the compartment with which it is not desired to connect, a separating Wall 26 is provided above the false ceiling 23 in alignment with the bulkhead 14 and extending to the roof of the car and from the centre division 24 to the inner end of the wall 19. In this way, each compartment 15 is connected by passages 18 and 25 in the bottom and top of the car respectively, with the flue 20 at the opposite end of the car. As the compartment 15 and flue 20 at the same end of the car, together with the passages connecting with them, are entirely isolated, it will be seen that there are two entirely independent continuous passages in the car, each embracing half the width of the car and extending from end to end thereof.

An ice bunker or brine tank 27 is suitably supported in each compartment 15 and may be iced through a hatch 28 located at the opposite side of the car from the flue 20 and from the hand brake 29. It will be noted that only one hatch is provided for each tank or bunker and that there is only one hatch at each end of the car so located as not to interfere with the footing of train men when operating the hand brake. Any suitable number of ventilators 30 of any suitable construction may be provided leading from the lading space 31 in the car to the outer air. Preferably, these ventilators are located under the running board, so as to present no obstructions on the roof of the car and to be guarded from injury. Each ventilator preferably comprises a tube 32 open at its lower end and closed at its upper end and provided with a cowl 33 overhanging a plurality of laterally directed apertures 34 disposed around the circumference of the tube. The tube is preferably supported on the roof of the car by a flange 35 inclined according to the inclination of the car roof, so as to disi pose the tube vertically. The lower end of the tube may be provided with a removable collar 36 to secure the lower end to the under surface of the false ceiling When in service, the operation of the car is as follows :The containers 27 are filled with ice or any suitable refrigerating mixture, with the result that air in contact with the walls thereof becomes chilled and falls to the bottom of each compartment 15. The cold air then flows through the channel 18 to the opposite end of the car, by which time it is sufliciently warmed to rise through the flue 20 and return to the compartment from which it started through the channel 25.

'moisture therethrough and transfer odors from one species of lading to another. lhe

' heat of the lading will be transferred by radiation to the air in circulation and particularly while the air is circulating through overhead, channels 25. This heat transference may be expedited by Constructing a false ceiling 23 of sheet metal. As the air passage is clearly defined, the air will follow th1s passage and will not flow into the car, since if it does it cannot get back into the circulation owing to the false ceiling 23. Any air which escapes from the circulation into the car through the floor racks will escape, together" with the odors and moisture from the lading through the ventilators 30.

The rush of air through .the floor channels 18 may draw into the circulation a certa n small percentage of air from the lading space 31, but this amount will be very small, as the circulation is a closed one and therefore any increase in'the amount of air means an mcrease in pressure. It will be clearly seen that the air is compelled tO*,flOW the full length of the car, as the circulation cannot be short circuited. It will also be observed that there are two .entirely separate circulations of air moving in opposite directions. The-combined result of these two 'factors is a uniform cooling of-ell parts of the car. Owing to the confinement or concentration of the circulating air, it is not materially affected by the movement of the car in transit.

If the car is to be used as a heated car, heaters such as steam-coils may be placed in the containers 27 and the operation is then exactly as described, except that the circulation will be in the opposite direction, the warm air rising from the sides of the container flowing through the ceiling channels down through the flues 20 andreturning under the floor racks to the chambers 15. It will thus be seen that the air used is entirely separated from the heating device as well as from the air in the body of the car.

The same effect may be produced by heating a body of liquid or other suitable material either. before or after introduction into the containers.

Having thus described my invention, what. I claim 1s:

1. In a refrigerator car, the combination with temperature 'changing compartments at opposite ends of the car of a pair of longitudinally disposed channels in the floor each extending the full length of the car and communicating with one of the temperature changing compartments and isolated from the other of said compartments.

- 2. In a refrigerator'car, the combination with a pair of temperature changing compartments at opposite ends of the car of a pair of longitudinally disposed air channels at the roof of the car, each extending the full length of. the car and connecting with one of said temperature changing compart-' ments and isolated from the other of said compartments.

3. In a refrigerator car, the combination with a pair of temperature changing comtical flue at each end of the car disposed on opposite sides of the car, and longitudinal air passages at floor and ceiling on each side of the longitudinal centre of the car connecting the temperature changing compartments severally with the flues at the opposite ends of thecar.

5. In a refrigerator car, a temperature changing compartment at the end thereof.

extendin from one side of the car across the longitudlnal centre line thereof, a vertical flue occupying the space between said compartment and the opposite side of the car, a pair of air channels at the floor'divided' fromone another at substantially the longitudinal centre of the car, one of said channels being in communication with the lower part of said compartment and the other channel being in communication with said flue, and a division in the lower part of said compartment extending. from the division between the channels to the flue and serving to isolate the channels fromone another and the flue and compartment from oneanother. i

6. A device accordingto claim 5, in which the divisionbetween the temperature changing compartment and flue comprises a wall extending angularly of the car from the division between the floor channels to the outer end of the flue and cutting off a corner of said compartment, and a false flooring extending from the wall into the corner of the compartment, said floor sloping downwardly from the compartment corner to the wall;

7. In a refrigerator car, a temperature changing compartment at each end thereof extending from the side across the longitudinal centre line of the car and terminating short of the opposite side of the car, said compartments being disposed on opposite sides of the car, a vertica lfflue at each end of the car, said flues being disposed on opposite sides of the car and between the temperature changing compartment and the side.

of the car, a false ceiling spaced from the roof of the car and extending from side to side thereof and from compartment to compartment, a division at the longitudinal centre of said false, ceiling forming a pair of separate air channels connecting said compartments severally with the flues, and a division wall at one end of each of said KARL r. NYSTROM. 

